Oh, M'Lord!

M'Lord, Earl Grey seems to be getting shier and shier and hardly ever shows up in my cup in his best form.  Perhaps he is getting old and frail.  Like so many of the Earl Greys I've tried over the past 2-3 years, Simpson and Vail's Organic Darjeeling Earl Grey just cannot be seated in the House of Lords.

When I opened the packet, there was a faint sweet whiff of a lemon/floral fragrence to the small green, balck and brown leaves.  I brewed it for 3 minutes with boiling water and there appeared a very, very, very faint whiff of bergamot.  The brewed tea was the same, but it was also very bland.  I brewed a cup with more tea, no better luck.  I brewed more tea for a longer time and that was too long so it was much too astringent.  Then I ran out of my sample.  Usually S&V does their Earl Grey blends very well, but this was not a success.

This is the interior of yeaterday's church.  The cross and the baptismal font hanging on the wall to the right of the altar are original to the building, although personally I think the cross is a lot older and the font is from a later, more fussy period than the 1600's.  Not that it matters.  The new font is on the left and matches the altar.  It is such a thrill to be in the same place and in the same building where my ancester lived 260 years ago.  The great ongoingness of life.


I was having a cup of Keemun yesterday when I realized it was lunch time, so we had some leftover curry - what a lovely aroma that is.  I tried the 2 together and was very pleasantly surprised.  The Keemun was so sweet and the curry had an added piquancy.  Deelish!  The curry mix is my own blend from 2 brands of Garam Masala and Curry powder from my favorite Indian store.  Otherwise I mix it myself.  I can't tell you the names, I generally find the brand, in Hindi or some other language and then find the right color.  Sounds weird, but it works, especially with the gram masala, which has a wide range of color.  The one I like is kind of a greyish sandy color.